Day Facts |आज के तथ्य

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Day Facts for 21-12-2016 - FOREIGN AFFAIRS

1. The Ministry of External Affairs of India (MEA) is India's Foreign Ministry, and is also responsible for representation in the United Nations. Foreign Minister - Ms Sushma Swaraj Minister of State (MoS) are - Shri V K Singh, Shri M J Akbar2. Indian Foreign Service (IFS) - In 1947, the Foreign and Political department of British India became the new MEA and Commonwealth Relations, and in 1948 the first batch from the combined Civil service examination system of the UPSC joined IFS.
3. The Foreign Secretary is the senior most civil servant who is the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs, supported by other officers.
4. India's present Foreign Secretary — Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, MEA spokesperson - Vikas Swarup.
5. The office of the Ministry is located in the South Block building which also contains the Prime Minister's office and defence office.6. Raisina Hill in Delhi is the last extension of Aravalli mountain ranges, and the location of both the Government of India as well as the Rashtrapati Bhavan. (The Aravalli ranges are 150 crore years old - India's oldest!)
7. The Raisina Dialogue is an annual conference held in New Delhi, created to project a strong, global image of India in foreign relations (like the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore).

8. Raisina Dialogue - inaugural session held from March 1-3 in 2016. It will build India's image with each year.

9. China calls Pakistan an "all-weather-friend". India had that kind of relations with Soviet Union (and Russia) earlier, but in recent years, there's a slight perceptible shift.

10. The arrival of Mr Donald Trump (as US President) can recalibrate global relations in a major way. India can benefit due to weakening of US - China relations, and strengthening of US - Russia relations.